ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - A - THE TIGER (Panthera tigris)

[peter]

ABOUT THE PREVIOUS POST

Although the aim of this thread is to provide good information about wild tigers, I don't mind something else at times. Provided it's relevant and reliable, that is. What you posted, Rage, could be interesting. The problem is it is a bit wanting in some respects.  

It isn't easy to get to a good story when you base it on a few loose fragments collected here and there and hope for the best when you start writing. One of the risks is getting to statements not supported by facts. Another problem is inaccuracies made by those you use. You have to be very sure that every fragment is correct in every detail.

I'm afraid not everything was. One example is the remark on the famous Bachelor of Powalgarh, shot by Jim Corbett in 1930 in Kumaon (northern India).  

THE BACHELOR OF POWALGARH 

It's true that Jim Corbett hunted man-eating leopards and tigers in India. It's also true that his great book about his experiences 'Man-eaters of Kumaon' (1947) has a story called 'The Bachelor of Powalgarh'. It's, however, not true that the Bachelor was a man-eater. His reputation was a result of his size.

" ... In spite of the many and repeated attempts that had been made to bag him with the aid of buffalo bait, the Bachelor had never been fired at, though on two occasions, to my knowledge, he had only escaped death by the skin of his teeth. On the first occasion, after a perfect beat, a guyrope by which the machan was suspended interfered with the movement of Fred Anderson's rifle at the critical moment, and on the second occasion the Bachelor arrived at the machan before the beat started and found Huish Edye filling his pipe. On both occasions he had been viewed at a range of only a few feet, and while Anderson described him as being as big as a Shetland pony, Edye said he was as big as a donkey.

The winter following these and other unsuccessful attempt I took Wyndham, our Commissioner, who knows more about tigers than any other man in India, to a fire track skirting the upper end of the ravine in which the Bachelor lived, to show him the fresh pug marks of the tiger I had found on the fire track that morning. Wyndham was accompanied by two of his most experienced shikaris, and after the three of them had carefully measured and examined the pug marks, Wyndham said that in his opinion the tiger was ten feet between pegs, and while one shikari said he was ten feet five inches over curves, the other said he was ten feet six inches or a little more. 

In 1930 the Forest Department started extensive fellings in the area surrounding the Bachelor's home and, annoyed at the disturbance, he changed his quarters; this I learnt from two sportsmen who had taken out a shooting pass with the object of hunting down the tiger. Shooting passes are only issued for fifteen days of each month, and troughout that winter, shooting party after shooting party failed to make contact with the tiger ... " ('Man-eaters of Kumaon', pp. 92-93).

When an old dak runner had told him he had seen the biggest pug marks he had ever seen during the thirty years of his service that morning, Jim Corbett set out to prospect next morning. Guided by his knowledge and his dog Robin, he got very close to the tiger. After breakfast he returned alone: 

" ... armed with the heavy .450 rifle, and as I approached the hill, ..., I heard the boom of a big buffalo bell and a man shouting. These sounds were coming from the top of the hill, which is flat, and about half an acre in extent, so I climbed up and saw a man on a tree, striking a dead branch with the head of his axe and shouting, while at the foot of the tree a number of buffaloes were collected.

When he saw me the man called out, saying I had just arrived in time and his buffaloes from a shaitan of a tiger, the size of a camel, that had been threatening them for hours. From his story I gathered that he had arrived on the hill shortly after Robin and I had left for home, and that as he started to cut bamboo leaves for his buffaloes he saw a tiger coming towards him. He shouted to drive the tiger away, as he had done on many previous occasions with other tigers, but instead of going away this one had started to growl. He took to his heels, followed by his buffaloes, adn climbed up the nearest tree. The tiger, paying no heed to his shouts, had then set to pacing round and round, while the buffaloes kept their head towards it. Probably the tiger had heard me coming, for it had left only a moment before I arrived.

The man was an old friend who, before his quarrel with the Headman of his village, had done a considerable amount of poaching in the jungles with the Headman's gun. He now begged me to conduct both himself and his cattle safely out of the jungle; so telling him to lead on, I followed behind to see that there were no stragglers. At first the buffaloes were disinclined to break up their close formation, but after a little persuation we got them to start, and we had gone half-way across the open plain I have alluded to when the tiger called in the jungle to our right. The man quickened his pace, and I urged on the buffaloes, for a mile of very thick jungle lay between us and the wide, open watercourse beyong which lay my friend's village and safety for his buffalo's ... " ('Man-eaters of Kumaon', pp. 95).

The quotes say the Bachelor, as a result of the extensive fellings in the area surrounding his home, had changed his quarters. As he most probably had no knowledge of the district he had entered, the tiger could have been a bit nervous. Animals entering an unknown district in wild country, like humans, most probably watch their back all the time. Safety always comes first. Food also is important. In the district in which he lived, the tiger knew where to find wild boars and deer. In the new district, he didn't. When he saw the buffaloes, he was interested. And he wasn't to be intimidated. 

Corbett knew the sheer size of the tiger could result in problems. He also knew his dog could succumb to pressure. I don't think the decision to return without the dog and with the heavy rifle was a result of the intention to shoot the tiger, but it's likely he expected trouble of some kind and wanted to be prepared. When entering a warzone, you need your energy for yourself. All of it. One thing you want to avoid is other guns nearby. When pressure arrives, you never know what will happen. Friends, neighbours and dogs can be as dangerous as anything. Corbett knew all about that.

When he walked towards the place where he had last seen the tiger, he stumbled upon his old friend. The man who had been treed by the tiger, I mean (see the last quote above). When he conducted him and his buffaloes out of the jungle and knew the tiger meant business, he promised his friend to try to shoot the tiger:

*This image is copyright of its original author

   

Corbett didn't follow the tiger, but decided the tiger should come and look for him (...). He called three times and

" ... laid down flat in the open, twenty yards from where the track entered the scrub. From this point I had a clear view up the track for fifty yards, to where a bush, leaning over, impeded my further view. If the tiger came down the track, as I expected him to do, I decided to fire at him as soon as he cleared the obstruction.

I had not called since I came out of the plain, so to give him direction I now gave a low call, to which he immediately answered from a distance of a hundred yards. If he came on at his usual pace, I judged he would clear the obstruction in thirty seconds. I counted this number very slowly, and went on counting to eighty, when out of the corner of my eye I saw a movement to my right front, where the bushes approached to within ten yards of me. Turning my head in that direction I saw a great head projecting above the bushes, which here were four feet high. The tiger was only a foot or two inside the bushes, but all I could see of him was his head.

As I very slowly swung the point of the rifle round and ran my eyes along the sights I noticed that his head was not quite square on to me, and as I was firing up and he was looking down, I aimed an inch below his right eye, pressed the trigger, and for the next half hour nearly died of fright ... " (Corbett, 1947, pp. 96-97).

Jim Corbett knew the tiger had been looking at him when he fired. He knew where he was, that is. Although he lost a bit of bone from his skull (of two inches square) and destroyed anything within reach while roaring all the time, the tiger didn't attack him (...). A day later, Corbett shot the tiger near a little stream. To his amazement, the wound caused by the bullit fired the other day was perfectly clean. In his opinion, the tiger was recovering (...).

When you read posts written by preferenced posters saying big cats, unlike bears, are unable to take severe damage, remember the Bachelor of Powalgarh. True in all respects.    

And Jim Corbett? My guess is he had mixed feelings about shooting the tiger. True, he had intimidated his friend and followed them all the way to the village, but he had not attacked. I'm not saying he was completely harmless, but he most certainly didn't compare to the tiger known as 'The Killer of Men' just south of Bhutan. That tiger, able to kill the largest wild male buffaloes with ease, had killed humans. In spite of that, Bengt Berg didn't shoot him when he had the opportunity. He wanted the tiger to pass on his genes and chances are he did. The Bachelor did not, but my guess is he had sired many cubs long before he was shot.   

SIZE OF THE BACHELOR OF POWALGARH    

In those days, male tigers shot in that part of India (Kumaon), averaged just over 9.9 in total length measured 'over curves'. Although Sir John Hewett, very experienced, never saw a tiger exceeding ten feet five and a half inches, longer tigers have been shot in Kumaon and Nepal. The mighty Bachelor of Powalgarh was one of them:  

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

AVERAGE LENGTH OF MALE TIGERS SHOT IN NEPAL AND INDIA IN THE PERIOD 1869-1939

Here's a table with information about the minimum, average and maximum total length ('over curves') of male tigers shot in Nepal and three regions in India in the period 1869-1939 for comparison. It was posted before (this thread).

As the Cooch Behar, Nepal and northern India samples are quite large, chances are the averages could be quite reliable.

A table isn't about numbers only. What's not there, is important as well. 

Tigers measured and weighed in northern India made the table. Those that were measured but not weighed didn't. Most of them, however, were significantly longer than those that made the table. As there is a strong relation between total length and weight in male Indian tigers, it's more than likely that male tigers in northern India could have been heavier than those in Cooch Behar. Recent information also points in that direction:

*This image is copyright of its original author

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